Submitted Report
I Live Here I Give Here (ILHIGH) has announced that the Austin-based nonprofit will serve for a third year as the official Community Leader in the Central Texas region for Giving Tuesday, an annual global philanthropic event taking place the Tuesday immediately following Thanksgiving. Giving Tuesday is a worldwide celebration of generosity and promotes giving back starting at the local level after the consumer-based shopping events of Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
This year’s Giving Tuesday will take place on Dec. 3. In a call for the community to make generosity a core component of Central Texas lifestyle, ILHIGH has set a regional goal of 5 million actions-for-good during its campaign from Nov. 1 through Dec. 3. Actions-for-good range from donations to local nonprofit organizations, volunteering and pledging volunteer hours, sharing personal stories of giving on social media to inspire others, helping a stranger, and more. Last fall, the community successfully hit over 4 million reported actions-for-good, including $1.3 million in monetary donations to ILHIGH’s nonprofit members.
“We hope the entire community is inspired to participate in the #GivingTuesday global generosity movement. It is an opportunity for Central Texans to showcase how generous they can be as part of a worldwide conversation,” said Courtney Manuel, ILHIGH executive director. “I Live Here I Give Here is working to reframe and expand the definition of generosity in a way that is relevant and accessible for all in our community. We believe that everyone has something to contribute to help shape the future of Central Texas, whether that be volunteering time, advocacy and/or civic engagement for a cause you are passionate about, or scheduling a monthly donation to a local nonprofit.”
ILHIGH’s 2019 Giving Tuesday campaign serves to showcase the unique ways in which Central Texans give back as part of the global movement, counting and reporting our community’s actions to the global campaign office in New York. Working with numerous local businesses and nonprofit organizations, ILHIGH encourages participation and collects data, such as donations made and received on Giving Tuesday; employee participation in corporate giving programs; volunteer hours; participation in nonprofit fundraisers and events in the month leading up to Giving Tuesday; social media posts that exemplify and encourage generosity; and more.
Those interested in recording their actions-for-good this Giving Tuesday can do so from anywhere by sharing how they give back to their local community on social media using both social media hashtags #ILiveHereIGiveHere and #GivingTuesday. An action-for-good can be anything that helps give back to one’s local community, including, but not limited to, the following ideas: Giving money to local charity, including singular donations or monthly recurring gifts of any size. (These can be scheduled at AmplifyATX.org for ILHIGH’s 750 local nonprofit members). Through social media, start a movement of kindness and inspire others to give back by using #ILiveHereIGiveHere and #GivingTuesday. Acts to consider include: Volunteering at a local nonprofit and sharing the experience; tagging your favorite charity and saying why you love their mission; sharing what motivates you to be generous; complimenting a stranger and telling us about it; carpooling with a neighbor; hosting a clothing or food drive for a local nonprofit; picking up trash in a public space; writing a thank-you note to someone who inspires you to do good.
